Just 88 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE by the first one hour of trade.

Lakshmi Machine Works (LMWL) is acquiring the entire paid-up equity capital of Coimbatore based textiles machinery maker Jeetstex Engineering Ltd (JEL) which is an unlisted public limited company.

The share capital of JEL is Rs 3.20 crore consisting of 32,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid. LMWL will acquire the entire share capital of JEL at Rs 1 per share. JEL is a sick industrial undertaking registered with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Once the process of acquisition is completed, JEL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of LMWL. Later, LMWL will initiate steps to merge JEL with LMWL.

LMWL is the largest textile machinery manufacturer in the country.

For Q2 September 2005, LMWL reported a 37% growth in net profit to Rs 19.91 crore on the back of a 39% growth in sales to Rs 320.28 crore (Rs 230.96 crore).

The company has benefited in the past two-three years due to increase in offtake of textile machinery which was mainly due to replacement, modernization and expansion in the textile industry. Moreover as a measure of backward integration, many knitting and weaving mills are establishing spinning units to meet their yarn requirements which too has spurred demand for textile machinery.